


First Encounters

by dippkip



Series: We are the Bat Gems [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Justice League - All Media Types, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, M/M, basically an AU in which the batfam are gems, the rest of the League exists as is, will eventually have superbat bc i'm shipper trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 21:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10975929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dippkip/pseuds/dippkip
Summary: The Justice League deals with a kind of threat they've never encountered before, and receive help from a group that could prove to be helpful allies in a whole new war.





	First Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to one of my many extensive AUs, children. I've been sitting on this one for a long time, so I want to start putting out content for it. My dear friend has made art for it, so I'll include a link here when it's been posted. This will eventually have Superbat, along with a few other pairings, so stick around for that! Hope you enjoy!

“Lantern, could you repeat that?”

“I’m tellin’ you Supes, it’s big, it’s green, and it has hair like David Bowie in _Labyrinth_. Almost wanna ask what product it uses…”

“Not the time, Hal. Who else is there?”

“I’ve got Flash and Wonder Woman here. Shazam and Aquaman reported they were en route, and Cyborg has monitor duty, so we can’t call him in just yet.”

“Will we have to? What can this thing do?”

“Well, it’s fast, and uh, spits acid, so it’s not doin’ too bad for itself.”

“Christ. I’ll be there soon, hang tight.”

“Gotcha. Take your time. Not like this thing can kill me or anything.”

Clark just sighed as the comm connection cut, pushing himself to fly faster and listening ahead to the battle that was unfolding. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t like anything they had encountered yet, and it left Clark feeling apprehensive.

He didn’t have much time to dwell on it, however – as he crested the last hill and looked down into the valley, he nearly balked at the sight that met him.

Hal hadn’t been kidding about the big, the green, _or_ the hair, but he _had_ neglected to mention that it also looked like an enormous, creepy centipede, with one eye planted at the back of its gaping jaws. Clark almost had to smother a shudder before he threw himself into the fray, uppercutting its bottom jaw to snap its mouth shut.

“It is good to see you, Superman. This creature has proven to be a worthy adversary,” Diana said, raising her sword and shaking a suspicious looking green substance off it. 

“I’ll say. We got it cornered here so it can’t get to the town, but we haven’t been able to actually finish it off,” Barry added, vanishing for a moment as a glob of acid flew onto the ground where he’d just been, only to reappear under the creature’s spindly legs, landing a few blows to its underside before taking off again.

Clark’s mouth settled into a grim line of determination as he nodded and he threw himself back into the fight. Even with Hal’s constructs shielding most of the acid and the later addition of Arthur and Billy, they only narrowly managed to take it down – one well-placed strike of Diana’s sword, and the entire thing just vanished, leaving behind only its eye.

 “Well, that was horrifying. What do we do with this bit?” Hal asked, leaning down to get a better look at the remnant.

“Well, we could-”

Before Clark could finish his thought, the eye began to glow and rise up from the ground. A green light emanated from it, forming a fairly distinct shape, before one final flash revealed the centipede monstrosity once again.

Billy groaned, “Are you _kidding_ me? Like the acid and the creepy wasn’t enough, this thing can _regenerate_? Cut me some slack man…”

“Complaining isn’t going to take care of this thing, Shazam,” Clark reprimanded, “We’ll just have to-“

Clark was cut off once again when the monster screeched and reared back, preparing to strike again. The Justice League shoved away their exhaustion and braced themselves, ready to ward off an attack that never came.

A young man dressed in blue dropped down from above, producing a pair of escrima from seemingly nowhere and bringing them both down on the creature’s head. It screeched again and scuttled back, trying to regroup. It was intercepted by another young man in red, who pulled out a handgun and fired what looked like energy bolts into its back. It writhed in pain, curling in on itself and closing its mouth, preparing another acid attack. Clark tensed, ready to dodge, but his gaze was drawn by a third figure launching themselves over the League members towards the monster.

The man was dressed in black and grey, his sharp, determined eyes locked onto his target. Clark’s breath caught in his throat as he watched the sun catch the man’s raven hair as he crossed his arms across his chest, just over a rock of some kind that seemed to be embedded there. They began to glow before he pulled them back to his sides, though somehow they now bore a pair of heavy gauntlets. He brought his right fist back and used all his momentum to land a punch to the side of the creature’s head, making it let loose one last wail before it vanished again, still leaving behind the eye.

The ebony-clad stranger gracefully landed in front of the green orb and his gauntlets glowed before disappearing. He leaned over the eye and held his hand above it for a moment before a dark grey bubble appeared around it, sealing it inside. He picked up the bubble and slowly rose, turning to face the other two strangers and murmuring to them – something about “too frequent” and “looking for a source” – before tapping the top of the bubble, causing it to vanish.

They all turned away and made to leave when Hal hollered, “HEY, YOU THREE, HOLD UP.”

They all jumped slightly, as though they’d forgotten the League was there (or perhaps they’d never even noticed?), but turned around to face them. Upon closer inspection, Clark realized that, between the physical prowess they’d just displayed and the color of their skin, which matched their outfits, there was no way they could be human – though that wasn’t saying much in Clark’s line of work.

The blue man gave them an apologetic smile and leaned back on his heels, saying, “Sorry about that. Usually we’ve got these guys corralled and taken care of before any humans can run into ‘em, but there’s been a lot of them running around lately, so we’re stretched pretty thin.”

“What exactly was that thing?” Diana asked, warily lowering her weapon and eyeing the strangers distrustfully.

The one in red rolled his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, looking off to his left. “Corrupted gem. Normally they don’t go near populated areas – don’t like all the noise.”

The group stared blankly at the trio for almost a full minute before Shazam finally lost patience.

“Do you even know who we are, man? Don’t mess with us, just give us a straight answer!”

“Oh, we know exactly who you are,” the ebony man calmly responded. He turned to Billy and said, “Shazam. Human, augmented by magic. Capable of flight, lightning manipulation, and great feats of strength.”

Billy startled and snapped his mouth shut. The stranger didn’t stop there, however, turning to every member in turn, making seemingly idle comments that only served to further distress the group with their accuracy.

He finally turned to address the group at large, saying, “Together, you’ve all formed the Justice League. You work to protect the Earth from the threats that it’s not prepared to face, whether they’re homegrown or extraterrestrial.” He paused, seeming to consider whether he should say something or not, before adding, “Your work has been most impressive – very admirable. Your planet is in good hands.”

Clark couldn’t help but flush a bit at the praise, but managed to work out a reply. “Thank you, but I’m afraid you have us at a disadvantage – who exactly are you?”

“I am Onyx, and these are Azurite and Spinel, but you can call us Bruce, Dick, and Jason, respectively,” he patiently responded, gesturing to his blue and red companions.

“Yeah, that’s spiffy _Bruce_ ,” Hal interjected mockingly, “but that doesn’t tell us what we really want to know. What _are_ you? My job has put me in contact with _a lot_ of alien species, and I haven’t seen anything like you.”

Onyx – no, Bruce – stared blankly at Hal for a moment before his face split into a dangerous smirk that absolutely _did not_ make Clark shudder.

“Well then Lantern, let me tell you about the Crystal Gems.”

**Author's Note:**

> The storyline for this series is going to be a little haphazard, so please bear with my scattered posting. Until then, I hope you liked this preview! 
> 
> As always, I'm on [Tumblr](http://dippkip.tumblr.com/), so feel free to come say hi!


End file.
